Members of the Montclair High School boys and girls track and field team will be looking to put up their best times and distances this weekend.
The aim at the Group 4 state meet on Friday and Saturday at Franklin High School is to get one of the precious bids to the State Meet of Champions that will also be held at Franklin High School on June 14.
To make it there, an athlete needs to be either in the top two of each event or the following top 18 performances in each event through all six groups.
Coming into the Group 4 meet, the Montclair girls track and field team almost pulled an upset in the North 1 Group 4 state sectional on June 2 and 3 in Clifton.
For the Mounties girls team, it was only the powerhouse Ridgewood team that finished ahead of them for the North 1 Group 4 team title, 99.75 to 96.75.
Despite falling short Montclair head coach Daryl Washington lauded his girls team for coming just a couple points short of dethroning the Maroons. It was the closest another team has come to winning the sectional over Ridgewood.
“We had a few hiccups in some events which would have solidified the win but that’s sports, everything won’t be perfect but, that’s the closest any team has come to beating Ridgewood at sectionals,” said Washington.
On the boys side Montclair came in fourth place in the North 1 Group 4 team standings with 51 points while Ridgewood took the boys team title with 95 points.
Individually, 13 Mounties girls punched their ticket to the Group 4 meet with the top six in each event qualifying for the group meet at Franklin High School.
The Montclair girls that qualified included the 400-relay team (49.31, second, sophomore Darriel Whiting, senior Ava Butler, junior Ashley Noel and junior Leannah Jordan) and 1,600-relay team (3:59.28, third, junior Leannah Jordan, Butler, sophomore Corinne Stewart and senior Allajah Young-Bey).
Six Montclair girls qualified for two events for the Group meet in sophomore Nile Brunson in the high jump (first place, 5-feet-inches) and long jump (third, 16-feet-10), junior Ashley Noel, long jump (first, 17-feet-7) and triple jump (third, 34-feet-11), sophomore Kennedy White, long jump (sixth, 16-feet-4) and triple jump (sixth, 34-feet-0.50), sophomore Tori Robinson, shot put (second, 34-feet-5.5) and discus (sixth), Stewart, 800 meters (fourth, 2:19.37) and 400 meters (sixth, 59.73) and junior Avery McAdams, 1,600 meters (third, 5:23.96) and 3,200 meters (second, 11:43.15).
In addition, six other Mounties qualified for the group meet, Butler, 200 meters (third, 25.93), Whiting, 200 meters (fourth, 25.94), Jordan, 400 meters (second, 59.03), junior Luciana Alicandri shot put (sixth, 31-feet-1), sophomore Marlene Heydenreich, high jump (sixth, 4-feet-10) and junior Annabelle Svenson, 3,200 meters (sixth, 12:32.08).
On the boys side three Montclair athletes qualified in two events, senior Richard Fortune, shot put (second, 50-feet) and discus (second, 142-feet-5), senior Justin Bernal, shot put (fourth, 46-feet) and discus (fourth, 134-feet-8) and junior Sean Overton, 1,600 meters (fifth, 4:28.03) and 3,200 meters (third, 9:42.18).
Four other Mounties boys qualified for groups in senior Ian Habjan, javelin (second, 156-feet-3), senior Tylor McAuley, discus (third, 135-feet), sophomore Jace Auletta, triple jump (fourth, 42-feet-3) and senior Nicholas Maurizi, 3,200 meters (sixth, 9:58.06).
On the girls side both Brunson and Noel took first place in the high jump and the long jump respectively. Washington believes both can make strong cases in the Group 4 meet in both events.
“Nile (Brunson) and Ashley (Noel) both had big jumps in those events (state sectionals) and still have room for growth going into the group championships,” said Washington. “Both young ladies are extremely athletic and very young in the sport, so they definitely have bright futures ahead of them.”
To find out the results for the North 1 Group 4 state sectional tournament please go to MileSplitNJ
And check out the live results for the Group 4 meet, also at MileSplitNJ.